Page 35 of Offsides

“Yes.”

Theo looked directly at him, her hazel eyes serious, her mouth pressed into a line. Cowboy took a big bite of his sandwich, needing his mouth to be occupied so that he didn’t say something that would land him in trouble. Because the only things going through his mind right now were just that.

“I did fun once,” she continued, her eyes never leaving his. “And all it got me was a broken heart and a stolen identity.”

Errrr, what?

Cowboy felt like the ride he was on had come crashing to a halt. The jarring feeling from her statement left him reeling, his mind racing to try and piece it all together. A broken heart? Stolen identity? What the hell had Theo gotten herself caught up in?

“You better start at the beginning, darlin’.”

Theo let out a long sigh, giving him a slow nod.

“I told you the other night about how I’m good with numbers and that statistics, especially sports statistics, were a socially acceptable way to love numbers. I was a double major in college—statistics and journalism. I really had my sights set on being the numbers gal for Sports News Now. I’ve always been serious and a little bit type A, which I’m sure doesn’t come as a surprise. I was focused on landing an internship with SNN, and little else mattered.”

Cowboy nodded, simultaneously wanting her to hurry up and not wanting her to rush. For as much as he was dying to know whatever this tale was—since it was obviously what made her tick—he also wanted her to feel safe and to know that he was here for her.

“My junior year, I met this guy, Tim. He turned my world upside down. He offered to buy me a drink to console me after Liverpool lost to Chelsea. I thought, why not? Have fun for once. I let him buy me that drink, then take me to dinner the next night, and soon after that, we were a couple. Things were great. We had so much fun together. We were always going out and doing things—shows, concerts, museums, fancy dinners. We’d take weekend trips to the beach or the mountains. Life was just one big adventure.”

“Sounds magical.”

“It was. Senior year I landed an internship. Not the one with SNN, but probably the next best thing—WCKN here in Atlanta. I was thrilled to be working with Dana Marini, since she’s a living legend. She helped me channel my stats knowledge, and Sports Down South was born. She hired me basically on the spot when my internship ended, and I went to move to Atlanta full time. Except, when I went to apply for an apartment, I discovered my credit was horrible. Like bottom of the barrel, just complete shit. I had no idea why, because I didn’t even have a credit card at that point. So I used one of those reports and found out that I did have a credit card—better yet, fifteen. Or at least, there were fifteen credit cards in my name. All of which were maxed out.”

“What? How?”

“Tim,” she answered. “All those shows, and concerts, and weekend trips? Turns out I was paying for them, on credit cards I didn’t know existed. He’d shortened my name from Theodosia to Theo on the cards so that no one would question the female name on them, and I never noticed. I was too in love to see it.”

“So what happened?”

“As soon as I discovered the cards and the more than one hundred thousand dollars in debt associated with them, I went to his place to confront him, but he was gone. Phone no longer in service. He just disappeared, like, overnight. I was devastated.”

“Theo, I’m so sorry,” Cowboy said, scooting closer to her on the couch. The hurt was all over her, like this had just happened to her yesterday. Placing a hand on her knee, Cowboy gave it a squeeze, hoping the gesture would be enough. He wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her, make all her pain disappear.

Theo shrugged. “Dana helped me get everything straightened out legally, so that I wasn’t responsible for all the money, but I still had to pay off a good portion of it. Took me a long time, but I did it. But after that, I swore off fun. Fun was what got me into trouble. If I had stayed focused on what mattered—school and my career—I wouldn’t have gotten involved with Tim.”

“Theo, I can’t fix what he did,” Cowboy said, moving close enough to her to pull her legs over his lap. Her body relaxed as he ran his hand up and down her calf, a soft mewl escaping from her lips. “What I can do is show you that life can still be fun. That you can be serious and professional but also let your hair down. I liked the woman I spent last night with. The one who listened to me as I told her about Dulcie, and who held my hand as we let the sun sink behind the trees. The one who teased me about the way I eat ice cream. And I really liked the one who whispered my name all hot and bothered as I kissed her.”

“I told you, I’m not that kind—”

“Stop. I hate it when women say that. Be whatever kind of girl you want to be, Theo. If you don’t want us to hang out again outside work, that’s fine. Just tell me, and we can go back to whatever little dance we were doing before. But last night changed something for me, and I was kinda thinking it changed something for you too.”

“It did,” she whispered, trying to hide a smile.

“Good. Then that’s all that matters.”

The trill of a cell phone cut through the air, stealing their attention.

“That’s probably Dana, wondering what time I’ll be in. I owe her notes about my day with the team yesterday.”

“Finish your bagel first,” he said, nodding toward the half-eaten sandwich on the plate next to her. “You need to fuel up. You have an extra busy day today.”

Giving her a wink, he stood up from the couch and headed toward the door.

“I do?” she called after him.

“Sure do,” he called back. “Oh, and bring those workout clothes from yesterday with you.”

Chapter Thirteen